The Newcastle Jets, fresh from an opening round win, faced a motivated Sydney FC side that could only manage a draw in their first match against Melbourne City last week.
In what was a fairly dull encounter, Sydney FC bossed much of the first half possession without creating any clear cut chances to score.
Instead, the Jets looked to have gone ahead via a set piece in the 36th minute. Jason Hoffman pulled away at the back post and headed past Vedran Janjetovic only for the linesman to flag for offside. Replays showed that Sydney were incredibly fortunate.
That was onside. What a joke #NEWvSYD
— John Davidson (@johnnyddavidson) October 17, 2015
With the first half failing to excite, it was hoped the second would see both teams burst into life. But this was not the case. Sebastian Ryall produced his most noteworthy contribution of the evening when he went down too easily in the box, earning himself a yellow card and no doubt copious amounts of abuse from Victory fans.
It would not be until the 89th minute that either teams would break the deadlock. Piling on the pressure late, the Sky Blues earned a late corner which was whipped into the near post and headed home by captain Alex Brosque. The late goal meant Sydney would earn their first win for the season while the Jets suffered their first defeat.
Formations
For the Jets it was a structured 4-2-3-1 that Scott Miller opted for. Benjamin Kantarovski slotted into centreback for the suspended Nigel Boogard which meant midfielder Mateo Poljak would captain the side. Struggling to get onto the front foot for pretty much the entire game, Miller’s formation allowed little space for Sydney to exploit between the lines, however did little to help the home side retain possession.
Newcastle Jets XI (4-2-3-1): Birighitti (GK); Hoffman, Kantarovski, Mullen, Carney; Poljak, Watson; Haliti, Leonardo, Alivodic; Trifunovic.
Graham Arnold recalled Olyroo Chris Naumoff to the starting XI after last week’s goalscorer Filip Holosko succumbed to injury and preferred Rhyan Grant to the young Alex Gersbach. In attack, the visitors lined up in a fluid 4-2-3-1 with the wide attacking players in Milos Ninkovic and Naumoff having licence to roam infield. Defensively, however, these two would drop into midfield to make a block of four, meaning Alex Brosque could pressurise the Jets back four.
Sydney FC XI (4-2-3-1): Janjetovic (GK); Ryall, Faty, Jurman, Grant; O’Neill, Dimitrijevic; Naumoff, Brosque, Ninkovic; Smeltz.
Crossing from deep
Whether by design or circumstance, much of Sydney FC’s domination led to space being found in wide areas which allowed for an early cross. An effective ploy with the rangy Marc Janko lurking last season, on Saturday afternoon it proved far less effective. With the inverted movement of Naumoff and Ninkovic, much of the space was left out wide for Grant and Ryall to expose but neither really got into threatening positions to cross. Instead they were forced to loft balls in from deeper areas to no avail.
Sydney delivered a staggering 21 crosses into the box to the Jets’ seven and it was only from a set piece that one of those would bear any fruit. After coming on as a substitute, Gersbach delivered a wicked ball into the near post from a corner with Brosque heading home. While Arnold is keen to penetrate centrally this season, Sydney must not lose their ability to stretch teams with clever wing play.
Corner tactics
A topic that could genuinely be discussed for hours, how does a team most effectively defend a corner? Man-on-man? Zonal marking? Do you want someone on your post? Well, substitute goalkeeper Ben Kennedy might be able to answer at least one of these questions after he was beaten at his near post following Brosque’s late, glancing header.
Something the Jets would have worked on at training, the decision to leave the near post exposed may be rethought as Kennedy struggled to make up the ground to deny Sydney’s club captain.
O’Neill continues to impress
The surprise starter from the previous match, Brandon O’Neill continued to look at home in the Sky Blues midfield alongside Serbian playmaker Milos Dimitrejivic. In a match where Sydney had almost 60% of possession it was important that the former Perth Glory junior would keep the ball moving and constantly recycle play and he did exactly that.
Completing 86% of his passes, O’Neill demonstrated the “underrated passing range” that Arnold hailed in his post match press conference after his side’s draw against Melbourne City. Tidy on the ball, the 21-year-old also got through his fair share of tackles and snuffed out many opposition attacks. Once more, he looked to play penetrative passes as he did for the goal last week but on this occasion, a slightly overhit pass just put the ball outside of Shane Smeltz’s reach.
Newcastle Jets Conclusion
After that promising start and to technically still be in the match with so little time remaining, the loss would sting. However, the performance raises some interesting questions for Miller and co. Should the Jets sit back against the better sides of the league and look to remain potent on the break? Or is it a matter of taking it to the opposition? Either way, the fans will want reassuring that their side has a definite plan come next week.
Sydney FC Conclusion
Arnold himself admits that his sides are slow starters so if you are and underwhelmed Sydney FC supporter that is perfectly fine. The fact of the matter is that without playing the fearless attacking football they exhibited for the second half of last season, Sydney are still yet to be beaten with a win and a draw and will be quietly confident heading into the Sydney Derby next week.
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